Call for Papers, Nexus 2018
March 1-3, 2018 | Knoxville, TN
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, welcomes proposals for presentations at Nexus 2018, our 8th biennial interdisciplinary conference, related to the theme of Agency and Artificiality: Assembling Humanity in the 21st Century.

We invite papers on the broad topics of humanity in an era of immense technological innovation and global interconnectedness. We are particularly interested in examining connections between the Humanities, Fine Arts, Social Sciences, and Sciences that establish new meanings for society.

This conference aims to bring together scholars, creative writers, and educators from a broad range of disciplines in order to generate meaningful research and conversation about what it means to act and to be human in a predominantly digital age. We also hope to foster discussion about ever-shifting cultural narratives that shape increasingly pluralist societies, especially how these societies have been imagined and, more importantly, ethically enacted across the disciplines.

For your proposal, you might consider any of the following themes:
● connections between agency, ecocriticism, environmentalism, affect studies, and objectoriented ontology
● constructions of communities, either human-made or natural, as seen from the position of unified physics or other fields
● cultural psychology, or actor-network theory
● humanism, posthumanism, and transhumanism
● methods of communication and learning, especially considering the advent of augmented reality (AR)
● artificial intelligence, and other bleeding-edge technologies
● collaboration and interdisciplinarity within and without academia through the use of sound, ethical methodologies
● the adaptation of digital technologies to academic work, especially with regard to the problems of audience, relevancy, and measurable impact in the non-academic world ● creative works that consider non/human agency and/or artifice

Plenary Speakers
● Sid Dobrin (University of Florida) will examine the connections between composition theory, pedagogy, and how writers react and respond to the environment
● Timothy Grey (CUNY, Staten Island) will discuss the cultural construction of the human self by considering the relationships between literature, popular culture, and identity
● Benjamin Gunsberg (Utah State University) will demonstrate how instructors can integrate web-thinking into creative writing classrooms--broadening notions of creative writing practice, its products, and practitioners' expertise.

Submissions for panels, individual papers, and roundtable discussions will be considered. In keeping with Nexus tradition, panels and papers not directly related to the conference are also welcome. Please submit abstracts (~250 words) to utnexus@gmail.com by January 5th, 2018.

Other questions? Please email utnexus@gmail.com.